Melody L. Simmons v. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that the question of whether material is exempt under the FOIA is not well suited for adversary proceedings
• holding FOIA exemption not overcome, even where former FBI agent released documents in question because \release from an official source naturally confirms the accuracy of the previously leaked information\
• holding FOIA exemption not overcome, even where former FBI agent released documents in question because “release from an official source naturally confirms the accuracy of the previously leaked information”
• “[T]he district court has the dis- cretion to limit discovery in FOIA cases and to enter summary judgment on the basis of agency affidavits . . . .”
• “In judging agency decisions and affidavits in the area of national security, 18 however, courts have given substantial weight to the expertise of the agencies charged with determining what information the government may properly release.””
• “Congress provided in the FOIA that courts should make a de novo review of any claimed exemption by an agency, review documents in camera if necessary, and release any reasonably segregable non-exempt portion of a document that an agency claims is exempt.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).